a change of scene and you must see people. I will
find your mother. Good-morning, Miss Callender."

And with that the doctor shook hands in his half-sympathetic,
half-reserved manner, and went out into the hall.

Mrs. Callender, who was waiting at the top of the stairs, came down and
encountered him.

"May I see you alone a moment?" said the doctor, looking at his watch,
which always seemed to go too fast to please him.

Mrs. Callender led the way to the basement dining-room, below, beckoning
Agatha, who sat there, to go up to her sister.

"Mrs. Callender, there is in your daughter's case an interrupted love
affair which is depressing her health, and which may cut short her life.
Do you think that the engagement is broken off for all time, or is it
but a tiff?"

"I hardly know, doctor. My daughter is a peculiar person; she is very
good, but with ideas of her own. We hardly understand the cause of the
disagreement--or why she still refuses to see the young man."

"Has the young man shown any interest in Miss Callender since the
engagement ceased?"

"He has called here several times during her sickness to inquire, and he
sent a note this morning asking to see her. She has declined to see him,
while expressing a great esteem for him."

"That's bad. You do not regard him as an objectionable person?"

"Oh, no; quite the contrary."

"It is my opinion that Miss Callender's recovery may depend on the
renewal of that engagement. If that is out of the question--and it is a
delicate matter to deal with--especially as the obstacle is in her own
feelings, she must have travel. She ought to have change of scene, and
she ought to meet people. Take her South, or North, or East, or West--to
Europe or anywhere else, so as to be rid of local associations, and to
see as many new things and people as possible. Good-morning, Mrs.
Callender."

Having said this the old doctor mounted the basement stairs too nimbly
for Mrs. Callender to keep up with him. When she reached the top he had
already closed the front door and a moment later the wheels of his
barouche were rattling violently over the irregular pavement that lay
between the Callender house and Third Avenue.

To take Phillida away--that was the hard problem the doctor had given to
Mrs. Callender. For with the love affair the mother might not meddle
with any prospect of success. But the formidable barrier to a journey
was the expense.

"Where would you like to go, Phill